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Talk:Fantastic Four (Earth-616)
We still need someone to sort out the history. Below are all the excess images I removed from the profile.--Edlicious 16:46, 11 October 2007 (UTC) I cut the out of universe material. Most of it is still quite good and could probably be used somewhere. Legend has it in 1961, longtime magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman was playing golf with either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld of rival DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications, who bragged about DC's success with the superhero team the Justice League of America. While film producer and comics historian Michael Uslan has partly debunked the story, Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's strong sales, confirmably directed his comics editor, Stan Lee, to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee in 1974: “ Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The sic Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... ' If the Justice League is selling ', spoke he, ' why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes? ” Lee, who'd served as editor-in-chief and art director of Marvel and its predecessor companies, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, for two decades, had by now found the medium restrictive. Determined "to carve a real career for myself in the nowhere world of comic books, Lee concluded that: “ For just this once, I would do the type of story I myself would enjoy reading.... And the characters would be the kind of characters I could personally relate to: they'd be flesh and blood, they'd have their faults and foibles, they'd be fallible and feisty, and — most important of all — inside their colorful, costumed booties they'd still have feet of clay. ” The result was The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) by Lee, penciler and co-plotter Kirby — the only credit signatures — with George Klein the generally recognized, uncredited inker6 The new book did not look like a superhero comic; the new characters appeared on the cover without costumes, and fighting a giant monster as was in vogue in Marvel's pre-superhero comics at the time. Moreover, they had no secret identities, and squabbled and grumbled more like real-life people than traditional superheroes. These first issues of the risky, groundbreaking book set the template for the "Marvel revolution" that revitalized the comics industry with a rough-hewn naturalism in which superheroes could bicker, worry about finances, and be flawed human beings, unlike the golden, square-jawed archetypes that had become the tradition. Lee's intended swan song became unexpectedly and phenomenally successful; Lee and Kirby stayed together on the book and began launching other titles from which the vaunted "Marvel Universe" of additional interrelated titles and characters grew. Through its creators' lengthy run, the series produced many acclaimed stories and characters that have become central to Marvel, including Doctor Doom; the Silver Surfer; Galactus; the Watcher; The Inhumans; the Black Panther; the rival alien Kree and Skrull races; and Him, who would become Adam Warlock. As well, the daring duo of Lee & Kirby, who eventually shared credit as co-plotting collaborators, introduced such concepts as the Negative Zone and unstable molecules, two core elements of the Marvel mythos. In the book's most groundbreaking yet utterly natural development, Fantastic Four presented superhero comics' first pregnancy, culminating with the birth of a Marvel superhero family's first child, Franklin Benjamin Richards. The pregnancy was announced in Fantastic Four Annual #5, and the baby was born one year later in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968). (DC Comics' Aquaman had previously fathered a child in his own series, issue #23.) After Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970, Fantastic Four continued with Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Marv Wolfman as its consecutive regular writers, working with artists including John Romita, Sr., John Buscema, Rich Buckler, and George Perez, with longtime inker Joe Sinnott helping to provide some visual continuity. Jim Steranko contributed a handful of covers. In the 1980s, John Byrne crafted what many critics call the series' best run since Lee & Kirby's.needed He joined the title with issue #209 (Aug. 1979), doing pencil breakdowns for Sinnott to finish. Byrne then scripted two tales as well (#220-221, July-Aug. 1980) before writer Doug Moench and penciler Bill Sienkiewicz took over for 10 issues. With issue #232 (July 1981), the aptly titled "Back to the Basics", Byrne began his celebrated run as writer, penciller, and (initially under the pseudonym Bjorn Heyn) inker. His key contribution was the modernization of Invisible Girl into Invisible Woman — a self-confident and dynamic character whose newfound control of her abilities made her the most powerful member of the team. Byrne also staked bold directions in the characters' personal lives, having the married Sue and Reed Richards suffer a miscarriage, and having the Thing's longtime girlfriend, Alicia Masters, and Johnny Storm fall in love and marry. The rift brought on by the latter would linger for several years, with the Thing quitting the Fantastic Four and the She-Hulk being recruited as his long-term replacement. Byrne was followed by a quick succession of writers (Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Roy Thomas), but the next extended run was by Steve Englehart, who had Reed and Sue retire to try to give their son a normal childhood. The returned Thing's new girlfriend, Sharon Ventura, and Johnny Storm's former lover, Crystal, joined the team (though Crystal would leave within a year). Sharon was quickly turned into a female "Thing", and the Thing himself further mutated, developing jagged spikes after being exposed to cosmic radiation during this roster's first mission. When writer and artist Walt Simonson took over the series for the next year-and-a-half, Sue and Reed came out of retirement and the Thing temporarily lost his powers and reverted to his human form. Following Simonson was Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. DeFalco nullified the Johnny Storm-Alicia Masters relationship by retconning that the Skrull Empire had kidnapped the real Masters shortly after the start of John Byrne's scripting run and replaced her with a Skrull spy named Lyja, with whom Storm unwittingly fell in love and married. Once discovered, Lyja, who herself had fallen for Storm, helped the Fantastic Four rescue the real Alicia Masters. Ventura departed after being further mutated by Doctor Doom, with whom she'd sought alliance after Masters returned. Other key developments included Franklin Richards being sent into the future and returning as a teenager; the return of Reed's time-traveling father, Nathaniel; and Reed's apparent death at the hands of a seemingly mortally wounded Doctor Doom. It would be two years before DeFalco resurrected the two characters, revealing that their seeming deaths were orchestrated by Hyperstorm, the tyrannical futuristic offspring of Rachel Summers (daughter of the X-Men Jean Grey and Cyclops) and Franklin Richards. In 1996, the ongoing series was cancelled with issue #416 and relaunched as part of the Heroes Reborn imprint, which retold the team's first adventures in a modern setting in a parallel universe. Following the end of that year-long experiment, Fantastic Four was relaunched with a new #1 in late 1997. Initially penciled by Alan Davis, it was written by Scott Lobdell, succeeded after three issues by Chris Claremont. Mark Waid later became the series' writer for a run with penciler Mike Wieringo, followed by writer J. Michael Straczynski and penciler Mike McKone. The title reverted to its original numbering with issue #500, with Vol. 2 (Heroes Reborn), #1-13 and Vol. 3, #1-70 considered as #417-499 of the original run. Marvel announced through Diamond Comics Distributors that writer Dwayne McDuffie and penciler Paul Pelletier would be the creative team beginning with issue #544. In 2006, as part of Marvel's company-wide "Civil War" fictional crossover, the Fantastic Four disbanded, torn apart by differing views on the Superhuman Registration Act. Mr. Fantastic, allied with Tony Stark, SHIELD, and the U.S. government, is in favor of the Act, while the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman leave to join Captain America's resistance movement. The Thing remains neutral and leaves for France. However, he returns in the last battle of the war to help save civilians from the battle. Mr Fantastic is also shot saving the Invisible Woman, but he survives and recovers. Sue then returns to him. Post-Civil War In the aftermath of the superhero "Civil War", Reed and Sue take a leave of absence in order to repair their strained relationship. The Black Panther and Storm, the newlywed king and queen of Wakanda, join the team as their temporary replacements (#543, Apr. 2007). Ancillary titles and features spun off from the flagship series include the 1970s quarterly Giant-Size Fantastic Four and the 1990s Fantastic Four Unlimited and Fantastic Four Unplugged; Fantastic Force, an 18-issue spinoff (Nov. 1994 - April 1996) featuring an adult Franklin Richards, from a different timeline, as Psilord; and Marvel Knights 4 spinoff in April 2004. As well, there have been numerous limited series all similarly set in the main universe, designated in Marvel continuity as Earth-616. In February 2004, Marvel launched Ultimate Fantastic Four, a version of the group in the "Ultimate Marvel" alternate universe. Johnny Storm starred in an early Silver Age solo series beginning in Strange Tales #101 (Oct. 1962), in 12- to 14-page stories plotted by Lee and initially scripted by his brother, Larry Lieber, and drawn by penciler Kirby and inker Dick Ayers. Here Johnny was seen living with his elder sister, Susan, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued to attend high school and, with youthful naivete, attempted to maintain his "secret identity". (In Strange Tales #106 (Mar. 1963), Johnny discovered that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity all along, from Fantastic Four news reports, but had humored him.) Supporting characters included Johnny's girlfriend, Doris Evans, usually seen only in consternation as Johnny cheerfully flew off to battle bad guys. (She was seen again in a 1970s issue of Fantastic Four, having become a heavyset but cheerful wife and mother.) Ayers took over the penciling after ten issues, later followed by original Golden Age Human Torch creator Carl Burgos and others. The FF made occasional cameo appearances, and the Thing became a co-star with #123 (Aug. 1964). "The Human Torch" shared the "split book" Strange Tales with fellow feature "Doctor Strange" for the majority of its run, before finally flaming off with issue #134 (July 1965), replaced the following month by "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.". A later ongoing solo series in Marvel's manga-influenced "Tsunami" line, Human Torch, ran 12 issues (June 2003 - June 2004). This was followed by the five-issue limited series Spider-Man/Human Torch (March-July 2005), an "untold tales" team-up arc which spanned the course of the pair's friendship. The "ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing", as Ben Grimm sometimes refers to himself, appeared in two team-up issues of Marvel Feature (issues 11-12, Sept. - Nov., 1973). Following their success, he was given his own regular team-up title Marvel Two-in-One, co-starring with Marvel heroes not only in the present day but occasionally in other time periods (fighting alongside the Liberty Legion in #20 and Doc Savage in #21, for example) and in alternate realities. The series ran 100 issues (Jan. 1974 - June 1983), with seven summer annuals (1976–1982), and was immediately followed by the solo title The Thing #1-36 (July 1983 - June 1986). Another ongoing solo series, also titled The Thing, ran eight issues (Jan.-Aug. 2006). For a list including one-shots, limited series, graphic novels, and trade paperback collections, see Thing bibliography. Issue #10 (Jan. 1963) established the concept the FF (and by extension the rest of the Marvel universe) existed in the same world as Marvel Comics; the team-members, it was explained, had licensed their names and likenesses to the company, and the rights to adapt their "real-life" adventures. In this issue, Doctor Doom himself came to Marvel's Madison Avenue offices. Sharp-eyed fans would later note this "real-world" Marvel was even more fictional than it seemed: Not only was penciler Jack Kirby working at a drawing table there, rather than at home per his wont, but the office door was labeled "Lee and Kirby" — suggesting the kind of comradely partnership fans wanted and expected. "A Visit with the Fantastic Four" in the following issue (#11, Feb. 1963), reinforced this notion of "real-world superheroes" by having the Fantastic Four, in civilian clothes, stroll to a newstand hoping to pick up their latest comic book. The second story introduced the impish Impossible Man, who starred in writer Roy Thomas' self-referential update in Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976), "Improbable as it May Seem — The Impossible Man is Back in Town!" Here he invaded the Marvel offices demanding to have his own comic. Lee, Kirby, writer Thomas, issue artists George Perez and Joe Sinnott, and Marvel staffers Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Marie Severin, Marv Wolfman, and John Verpoorten all made cameo appearances. This concept was again used in #262 (Jan. 1984), which depicted writer-artist John Byrne being asked by editor Michael Higgins for the latest issue, since it was almost late. Byrne explained he had been unable to contact the Fantastic Four for the latest story, since they were away. He was about to make up a story when the Watcher whisked him away to take part in the FF's latest adventure. At the end of the issue, Byrne submitted his story. Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four (2000) was a mock-up of what the comic book published in the Marvel Universe might have looked like, and was (within the fictional context of the story) produced with the official approval of "FantastFantastic Four, Inc." They have had a number of headquarters, most notably the Baxter Building in New York City. The Baxter Building was replaced by Four Freedoms Plaza, built at the same location, after the Baxter Building's destruction at the hands of Kristoff Vernard, adopted son of the Fantastic Four's seminal villain (and rumored half-brother of Mr. Fantastic) Doctor Doom. Pier 4, a warehouse on the New York waterfront, served as a temporary headquarters for the group after Four Freedoms Plaza was condemned, due to the actions of another superhero team, the Thunderbolts. The comic books have typically emphasized that the Fantastic Four, unlike most superhero teams, are truly a family. Three of the four members are directly related, with The Thing being a long-time friend and Reed Richard's college room-mate; Reed and Sue's son, Franklin Benjamin Richards, was given his middle name after him. Although not strictly related, The Thing's role is that of the beloved Dutch uncle, and his relationship with Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch is nonetheless quite sibling-like. The children of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards, are also regulars in the series. --Stature 07:29, 24 December 2007 (UTC) Question If Hulk isn't a member or ally, why is he in the current profile pic of this page?--Hulk10 (talk) 22:01, September 18, 2018 (UTC) :He is listed as an ally. -- Annabell (talk) 22:48, September 18, 2018 (UTC) ::Ah ok--Hulk10 (talk) 22:59, September 18, 2018 (UTC)